If You Want To Understand...

 ... why the US military education is bunk, here is an example. From neocon central Atlantic Council. Let's start, however, with the CV of the author of this drivel. He is JAG, actually. Lt.Colonel Gregg Curley. He is in Marines and most of his military education has entries like this: Roger Williams University School of Law, MBA and Naval Justice School. Hey, I have nothing against JAGs anywhere--they do a very important work in Armed Forces and are critical in many judicial matters of everyday military life and war. This, however, hardly explains this entry: USMC Command and Staff College, Master of Military Science. The immediate question here WHAT military science? Here is the list of this 10 months course:

Command and Staff College courses are taught by a military and civilian faculty divided into four departments:  Leadership, Warfighting, War Studies, and Security Studies. The program consists of 11 core courses and two electives (electives change each year and are not listed).

• Leadership in the Profession of Arms I

• Evolution of Modern Warfare 

• National Security Affairs and the International System

• Joint and Marine Corps Operations

• The Marine Corps Planning Process

• Leadership in the Profession of Arms II

• Origins and Evolution of Contemporary Great Power Competition

• Evolving National Security Concepts and Operations

• Complex Operational Problem Solving and Design

• Master of Military Studies

• Capstone Planning Exercise (PC-X) 

Absolutely nothing is wrong with this list except... that this course Origins and Evolution of Contemporary Great Power Competition in the US should be completely disposed of due to confabulation of the American military and political history in the XX century and a complete block in ANY US military educational institutions of REAL history of WW II. It is simply not taught anymore in any US military school. Secondly, I don't see a critical course of the Theory of Operational Research and introduction to appropriate level mathematics which starts in military academies, say in Russia? Can you teach an MBA and JAG differential equations, a spread of applied physics of military technology and systems integration understanding of which is critical for modern day battlefield in all three manifestations of military art: tactics, operations and strategy. Do you sense where I am going with it? Well, so this marine Lt. colonel pens this wowser...

In the early days of Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, the Atlantic Council’s Daniel Fried likened Ukraine’s bold maneuver to George Washington’s historic raid across the Delaware River. At the time, this analogy was fitting, given the information available and the perceived objectives. However, as the operation approaches the six-week mark, it has become clear that this incursion is not merely a raid—a military operation characterized by temporary seizure of territory and a planned withdrawal. Ukraine has had multiple opportunities to withdraw, yet it remains. At this point, a different historical analogy may provide some insights: the Battle of Gettysburg.

You see, this is what lack of serious military STEM education and ignorance of world's military history (with the exception of beaten to death mind-rape of the American Civil War) gets you--correct, operational-strategic kindergarten. First, what nobody told those US generals and colonels is that it is 2024 and technological paradigm changed so much that it completely overhauled Operations and Operational Art and, as a result, strategy, that even time-wise and technologically close to us WW II lessons should be applied within a strict framework of technological, tactical and operational caveats, which, in the end redefine the whole process of developing strategies--a process unknown for the US military. So, finding a historic symmetry between Gettysburg and VSU's (a euphemism for the Washington and London "planners") suicidal incursion in Kursk Oblast is downright stupid. 

Curley lists "similarities" and parallels" : 

Strategic parallels and potential objectives in Ukraine

1. Political impact: A significant Ukrainian victory, combined with Russia’s embarrassment, could demoralize Russian forces, boost Ukrainian morale, intensify domestic and international pressure on Russian leadership, and enhance Ukraine’s leverage in negotiations or potential peace talks.
2. International recognition: Success on Russian soil could increase international support for Ukraine, resulting in continued military and economic aid while further isolating Russia diplomatically. In the short term, it could also prompt reconsideration of restrictions on the use of foreign-supplied weapons in Russian territory, enhancing Ukraine’s operational capabilities.
3. Further military campaigns: Ukrainian success could force Russia to redeploy some of its troops, limiting Russia’s ability to advance in the Donbas and perhaps providing time and space for Ukraine to strengthen its defensive position in the region.
4. Impact on morale and military strategy: Major Ukrainian victories could significantly boost national unity and morale, encouraging volunteer enlistment and drawing stronger international support.
5. Bringing the fight to Russia: While early successes could strengthen Ukraine’s position, they may also force the Kremlin to resource another front, which would further diminish public support and may generate additional leverage for Ukraine.

For starters he should go to the mirror and look into it. It WAS NOT a Ukrainian "operation" and VSU didn't have "many opportunities to withdraw", because there was no order from NATO to withdraw. It is a known and well documented fact that on all command levels in SMO Armed Forces of Ukraine are "manually" commanded by NATO officers. Not very good officers, I may add, because the only reason a catastrophe in Kursk (together with atrocities against civilians--a hallmark of American way of war) was planned and undertaken is an election campaign in the US with a desperate need for any kind of success in SMO which was launched in counter to a delusional Washington plan (they are ignorant illiterate people in Washington) in 2022 to topple "Putin's Regime". US Armed Forces do not know and have no experience in defending the country and for the last 50 years lost all of their wars which have been fought, in the end for primarily PR purposes. 

And if there are any parallels to be drawn to this suicidal mission, I would suggest this USMC officer to get a REAL reliable book on Operation Zitadelle and Kursk Battle and refresh his memory on what happened there starting July 5th, 1943 and where Russians ended up after Kursk in 1945. Meanwhile, it is the US (NATO in general) planning and C4 which manged to kill more than 1 million of Ukrainian troops (23,000 in Kursk alone since August 6, 2024) with another million of wounded and maimed and Ukrainian state ceasing to exist. So, instead of wasting the time on finding some useless parallels I would suggest this USMC JAG to get a good book on Russian culture and history, all 1200 years of it--maybe that will give him some insight into why nobody can defeat Russia in wars. I don't hold my breath--he is JAG and who cares about Pareto Distribution and scaling of military campaigns, right? Ah yes, those academies in Russia, what do they know. Gettysburg, oorah!